According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Apple’s ‘Asian component suppliers’ have begun mass production of the iPad Mini. Citing two sources, production of the upcoming iPad’s screens is said to have started last month, with both LG Display and AU Optronics being named as the manufacturers of the display. The same sources confirmed that the iPad Mini will feature a 7.85-inch LCD screen and that it will have a lower resolution than the iPad 3. It has been speculated in the past that the Mini will have a resolution 1024 x 768 pixels. Two days earlier, Japanese blog Macotakara claimed that production of the smaller tablet has already begun in Foxconn factories located in Brazil.

The possible release of the iPad mini is one of those rumours that just won’t go away. The latest such rumblings come from Chinese tech site MyDrivers, where ‘anonymous sources’ claim that the 7.85 inch iPad mini will feature Sharp’s IGZO display and retail for under $300. As Wired points out, IGZO is a new and improved manufacturing process that makes displays “thinner, higher in contrast, and less power-hungry than current display technology”. It is worth noting that this technology was rumoured to replace the IPS screens on the new iPad, but this turned out to be false. The report also says that the smaller iPad will be as thin as the iPad 2, have a resolution of 330 pixels per inch and 8GB capacity, which will go for between $250-299. There is no mention of release dates, though a previous report from net portal NetEase claimed that the iPad mini will be launched in the 3rd quarter of 2012. With the recent release of the Google Nexus 7 (among a bevy of other 7″ android tablets), it’s not surprising that Apple reportedly have plans to introduce a more cost effective and portable iPad.

New York, New York – Umami, a New York-based technology company focused on enhancing the television viewing experience, today unveiled its first consumer product, a synchronous, content-driven companion TV app. The free iPad app is available now in the App Store. Working in conjunction with Umami’s second screen publishing platform, the app uses proprietary audio fingerprinting technology to sync continuously to live or time-shifted programming from all major broadcast and cable networks. It then provides rich, program-related content, conversation and more in a fun, living room-friendly experience.

Led by TV technology veterans Scott Rosenberg and Bryan Slavin, Umami was founded to deliver on the promise of interactive television for consumers, networks and advertisers. In building Umami, we strove to provide consumers with an interactive, social experience across all of their favorite shows, while also serving TV networks’ need to foster deeper, more engaging relationships with their viewers, noted Mr. Rosenberg, Umami’s Co-Founder and CEO.

At startup, the app automatically detects what a consumer is watching, then provides show info, cast bios, and photos, as well as one-click access to official show pages, fan sites, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia and other content sources. Umami’s in-house editorial team curates enhanced content on many popular television series, and the app’s Smart Search function recommends keywords and links to help consumers discover even more about their favorite shows. Viewers also have access to real-time social feeds to see what cast, critics and friends are saying about a show, and to make comments of their own. In tandem with the launch of its app today, Umami is also debuting a publishing platform that empowers TV networks to create their own custom, branded experiences. By providing both a consumer app and a publishing platform, Umami dramatically simplifies the creation of synchronous, companion TV experiences, stated Mr. Slavin, Co-Founder and CTO. For example, one of our launch partners, National Geographic Channel, is leveraging Umami’s second screen platform to deliver branded experiences around Expedition Week,’ airing the week of November 7th, and Knights of Mayhem,’ premiering November 15th. A number of other partners will go live in the coming weeks, providing viewers with even deeper content across a variety of programming.

In August, Umami announced $1.65 million in seed funding from NEA, Battery Ventures and industry angels. Media veteran Rick Sirvaitis, one of Umami’s key advisers and former head of GM Mediaworks and ad sales at Turner and Fox Family, said Networks have been excited by Umami’s consumer app, and the ease of creating interactive, social TV experiences for the platform. Umami makes TV more engaging, and that’s a win for consumers, networks, and advertisers.

Device Requirements: * iPad * Requires iOS 3.2 or later * 5 MB

Pricing and Availability: Umami for iPad 1.0.3 is free and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Entertainment category.

Co-Founders Scott Rosenberg & Bryan Slavin: Mr. Rosenberg, Umami’s CEO, has spent his career at the nexus of technology and television with early posts at Intel, ReplayTV and BlackArrow. He most recently served as VP of Advanced Advertising at Rovi, acquirer of Gemstar-TV Guide, where his team sold interactive TV advertising to major TV networks, studios and consumer brands. Mr. Slavin, the company’s CTO, has held technology and product leadership roles at Lightningcast (acquired by AOL), Leap Wireless, and Broadsoft. At Lightningcast, he launched broadband video advertising products and solutions with top TV networks and built the industry’s first web video ad network.

Founded in New York City in 2010, and backed by NEA, Battery Ventures, and prominent angel investors and advisers, Umami (www.umami.tv) develops products that enhance the consumer TV viewing experience, while streamlining the creation of these experiences for TV networks and content owners. The company, led by digital media veterans from TV Guide, Comcast, AOL and CBS, recently launched its first product, Umami TV for iPad, available for free in the App Store. Umami is a Japanese loanword referring to the fifth taste that loosely translates to savory or enhanced. Copyright (C) 2011 Umami. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone, iPod and iPad are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

New York – Magzter Inc. that owns Magzter – The Global Digital and Mobile Magazine Store and Newsstand today announced that it has started adding its client magazines onto Apple’s latest iOS5 Newsstand.

Magzter just launched iOS5 Newsstand compatible magazine apps for India Today, the largest selling English magazine publication from India and for Galatta Cinema, one of India’s popular movie magazines both of which cater to the 200 million Indians who read English language magazines in India and overseas.

Publishers can just sign up on Magzter’s website at www.magzter.com and with Magzter’s FREE upload option for paid magazines, they can have their magazines sell across platforms. Publishers who sign up on Magzter now also have the option to make their magazines available on Apple’s newsstand, giving them more visibility and increased sales.

By doing this, Magzter has doubled its own app downloads and it expects to further increase exponentially as more titles are added by Magzter on the Apple newsstand. This also showcases Magzter’s cutting-edge technology prowess by making Magzter the 1st global digital magazine store with Apple Newsstand support for its publishers.

Magzter has currently more than 100 magazine titles on its own newsstand and was one of the sponsors of the FIPP World Magazine Congress held at Delhi last week. During the FIPP WMC Magzter signed up more than 100 International magazine titles including titles from USA, UK, Hong Kong, Thailand, Italy and France.

Magzter growing exponentially since its launch just 14 weeks ago and is being touted as a boon for both publishers and magazine readers alike since they are a self-service publishing platform that caters to all magazines globally and helps publishers go digital at no cost to them. Magzter works on a revenue share model for paid magazines and a per-delivery model for free magazines.

The Android Marketplace has real success stories such as Aaron La’s Advanced Task Manager; its open slant gives opportunity to many developers who can’t afford a Mac to join a huge market place. Every day, Android grows, and barring the all-out success of Windows Phone 7, it is destined to remain at the top, at least as market share leader. But, all is not well.

According to the Reg, Google’s hands-off approach allows its Marketplace to drown in oceans of porn just as the App Store was chocked by useless apps (fart and flashlight) in its early days. There is another negative effect: piracy. Despite the fact that the average selling price for Android apps is less than their iPhone, developers are strangled by app pilfering. The net result is that 49% of Android developers are making less than they expected and only 27% making more than they expected. Again, there is no question that Android is the market leader. For developers, it is an attractive platform. But it isn’t the heaven and spice that disgruntled iPhone developers may think it is. Google needs to adapt to keep its most important customer, the developer, happy. Happy, loaded developers make great apps. Currently iPhone Development, while a lot more controlled, has a friendlier, more lucrative face; it also tends to sport much more high quality apps.